Think twice

“Authors Richard Wilding and Emel Aktas found that there was no correlation between staff-to-student ratios, which they treat as a proxy for class sizes, and the TEF awards” (“‘No link’ between class size and TEF outcomes”, News, 28 September). What? To treat staff-to-student ratios as a “proxy for class size” is ridiculous: a two-hour seminar of 20 and two one-hour seminars of 10 are equally possible for any given staff-to-student ratio. The teaching excellence framework is bad enough without this sort of “critique”.

In the same issue of Times Higher Education, we are offered “the experts’ guide to getting published”. Interestingly, none of the 16 contributors see fit to suggest that having something worth saying might be a consideration. Is there a link here?

Bob Brecher
Professor of moral philosophy
University of Brighton

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